Chapter 1
Frank removed his hard hat, only for a moment so he could wipe the sweat from his brow. He replaced it quickly, though. He really wasn’t in the mood to get chewed out by the foreman today.
His phone rang in his pocket. He fished it out hastily, knowing it had to be Matt calling. Only he and Karen had the number, and Karen rarely called after six PM and it was now currently...shit, late as hell. Hm, Frank was getting off his shift soon too, it looked like.
He flipped the phone open, putting it to his ear.
“Hey, can you talk?” Matt asked raptly.
“Gimme a sec.”
Frank lowered the phone. He jogged over to where he could see his supervisor talking to a few other guys.
“I’m takin’ my break.” Frank told the supervisor, who nodded and waved him away.
Frank hurried away to a quieter corner of the lot they were cleaning up. Those tremors caused a whole lot of damage.
“Hey.” he said into the phone when he was finally alone. “What’s up? Somethin’ goin’ on?”
Matt sighed. Frank could hear low chatter in the background, voices he didn’t recognize. They sounded kind of like they were arguing but Frank couldn’t make out what they were fighting about.
“Yeah. It’s... It’s Daredevil.”
Frank’s stomach dropped. His heart stuttered.
He knew Matt had been having a hard time with keeping off the streets, but Frank had been helping with, just like Matt had been helping him keep away from the Punisher. They had been anchoring each other in reality, keeping each other sane and on the right path.
“Okay. Uh... Wh-What’s goin’ on?”
“It’s... You remember what I told you about the Hand?”
“Yeah. Secret ancient organization hell-bent on world-domination, ain’t easy to forget. Is it them?”
“Yeah.”
*
Matt could feel the others watch him as he spoke with Frank. He tried to keep his voice low, make sure they didn’t hear.
“Look, this is gonna be dangerous, we both know that. But I’m with some people and I’m pretty sure I can trust them, and we’re gonna figure this out. You need to leave, though. Take some time off work. Go home. Pack. Leave. Please. Don’t stay in the city.”
“Matt, I can-“
“No.” Matt interrupted.
He couldn’t let Frank get involved in this. He might know about the Hand, loosely, but he had no idea what kind of force they were to be reckoned with. Matt couldn’t let Frank get involved with them, let him end up on their kill list.
“We talked about this. This is my fight. I stay out of your fights, you stay out of my fights. That’s what we said. So just... Just please. Just trust me.”
*
Frank sighed. He rubbed at his eyes.
Fuck...
He wanted to help Matt with all this batshit crazy bull. Frank didn’t understand shit about it, but he wanted to help out in any way he could.
But they had promised each other, and they had sworn to trust each other.
This went against everything in Frank’s head and his gut, but...
“Okay. Okay, I’ll... I’ll leave the city. Head west for a while.”
“I’ll call as often as I can. Keep you updated.”
“If you need help, you call. If anythin’ happens, you call. If you get hurt? You fucking call and I’ll be there. Okay?”
“Okay. I promise.”
*
The others were quiet, listening as best they could to Matt’s conversation. Matt sighed.
“I love you.”
“You too.” Frank replied, his tone so soft and warm.
Matt could feel the love, even if Frank couldn’t say it.
“Be safe. We’ll figure this out. We’ll take care of it.”
Frank hummed. “Yeah. You be safe too. Watch your back, sunshine. Call as often as you can, okay? Don’t care what time it is. If you got a minute to spare, you call me.”
Matt gave a small smile. “I promise. I love you. God, I love you so much.”
*
“I-“
Frank wanted to make the words.
They seemed to be glued to his tongue, though, incapable of passing his lips. They were there. He could feel them creeping up onto the tip of his tongue, making his lips tingle with the want to say them, but they couldn’t escape him, no matter how badly he wanted them to.
“It’s okay.” Matt said softly. “I know.”
“Yeah...”
“Okay. Um. I... I should get back to things here. And you need to get going. So... Talk to you soon?”
“Yeah. Talk soon.”
They lingered for some moments, only listening to each other breathe. Frank’s stomach as twisting and turning. He wanted so badly to go to Matt, to help, to fight, to protect.
But he had made a promise. He had promised Matt. They had promised each other.
Neither of them wanted this, but it was thrust upon them, so they had to deal with it.
When they at long last ended the call, Frank hurried back to see his supervisor. He pulled the man away from the group of guys coming in to fill out the night shift. He was upset when Frank said he had to take a few weeks vacation, so Frank threatened to quit. The supervisor knew just as well as Frank did that Frank was one of the best guys the company had, so he was given two weeks of unpaid vacation, which was more than enough for Frank. He hoped he wouldn’t need the full two weeks.
He hurried home.
He packed a bag quickly and got on the first train out of the city.
Frank hadn’t prayed in long damn time, but as he sat on the train, clutching his phone and hoping Matt would call again, he prayed to God that Matt would be okay.